Systems and methods for arranging contextually related media assets

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are provided herein for automatically arranging media assets that are contextually related to a requested media asset for access prior to a start time of the requested media asset. In some embodiments, user input circuitry may receive a user request to access a media asset. Control circuitry may identify, by consulting a database, a first set of media assets that share a context with the requested media asset and were released prior to the release date of the requested media asset. Control circuitry may determine a subset of media assets of the first set of media assets by performing a comparison of each media asset of the first set of the media assets against a viewing history of the user. Control circuitry may access a user profile to determine a user constraint, and generate a recommendation for display based on a first aspect of the user constraint.

BACKGROUND

Consumers are finding an increasing ability to access media assetsthrough a growing number of different sources, such as by scheduling arecording of a future airing, ordering it via video-on-demand, orplaying it on an online platform. A consumer who has requested to accessa media asset that is contextually related to media assets with priorinitial air dates (e.g., a late episode of a television series, such asepisode 8) may wish to view the earlier media assets. In such a case,the user must manually search for the remaining contextually relatedmedia assets (e.g., episodes 1-7) from the different sources in order tocreate a desired plan to consume the remaining media assets in a timelyand logical manner. Failure to do so would cause the consumer to miss anintervening media asset that may contain crucial plot points for therequested media asset.

SUMMARY

Systems and methods are provided herein for automatically arrangingcontextually related media assets for a user to access. In some aspects,these systems and methods comprise determining a user constraint and asubset of media assets that the user has not yet viewed so as togenerate a recommendation, based on the user constraint, for the user toview the media assets in the correct contextual order.

In some embodiments, control circuitry may determine that user inputcircuitry has received, from the user, a request to access a mediaasset. For example, the user may schedule a reminder for Episode 8 ofthe TV series The Blacklist on user equipment using a remote control.Control circuitry may determine that the request indicates that therecording is scheduled for the airing in 5 days.

In some embodiments, control circuitry identifies a first set of mediaassets by consulting a database (or other storage circuitry). Controlcircuitry may ensure that each media asset of the first set of mediaassets is released prior to a release date of the requested media asset.Additionally, control circuitry may ensure that each media asset of thefirst set of media assets shares a context with the requested mediaasset—e.g., by being sequential episodes of a series, movie sequels, orother contextually related videos. For example, the control circuitry ofthe user equipment may consult a remote server to identify media assetsthat share a context with the scheduled Episode 8 of The Blacklist, suchas Episode 7 available on an online video streaming service (e.g.,Netflix), Episode 6 scheduled to air in 2 days, and an on-demand Episode5 available for purchase on another online video streaming service(e.g., Amazon Instant Video).

In some embodiments, control circuitry may determine a subset of mediaassets of the first set of media assets, where the subset of mediaassets have not been viewed by the user. In some embodiments, thecontrol circuitry may make the determination by performing a comparisonof each media asset of the first set of media assets against a viewinghistory of the user. For example, the control circuitry may determinethat the viewing history of the user indicates that Episodes 1-4 havepreviously been viewed by the user. The control circuitry mayaccordingly recommend to the user Episodes 5, 6, and 7 prior to thescheduled airing time of Episode 8.

In some embodiments, control circuitry may access a user profile todetermine a user constraint. The control circuitry may determine thatthe user constraint indicates criteria for finding and arranging thecontextually related media assets, such as video resolution, total costof purchase (i.e., budget), timing of broadcast, duration, theme,availability, mode of delivery, speed of access, user availability, andother user preferences for the media assets. For example, controlcircuitry may access the user profile to determine that the user has seta constraint for a total budget of “$5.00” and resolution of “SD orabove.” The control circuitry may make any subsequent arrangement ofepisodes 6 and 7 for the user that fulfills the user constraint.

In some embodiments, control circuitry may generate a recommendationbased on a first aspect of the user constraint. The control circuitrymay determine that the recommendation includes a recommended manner ofaccessing each media asset of the subset prior to a first start time ofthe requested media asset. For example, the control circuitry mayrecommend accessing Episodes 5, 6, and 7 based on the user budgetconstraint of no more than $5.00, and find that an online media store(e.g., Apple iTunes Store) offers all three episodes at $4.50 for alimited time. If the episodes on the online media store can be accessedprior to the start time of the scheduled Episode 8, the controlcircuitry may generate a recommendation containing Episodes 5, 6, and 7as found on the online media store, along with their associated cost andtiming information.

In some embodiments, control circuitry may generate the recommendationfor display. For example, the control circuitry of the user equipmentmay generate for display a notification box indicating that Episodes 5,6, and 7 may be accessed from an online media store (e.g., Apple iTunesStore) prior to the scheduling broadcast time of Episode 8, for a totalcost that is within the budget set by the user constraint.

In some embodiments, control circuitry may determine, based on the userconstraint, that at least one media asset of the subset cannot beaccessed prior to the first start time of the requested media. Forexample, the control circuitry may determine that Episode 6, whichbelongs to the subset of media assets that the user has not yet viewed,is not available from any of the different sources. As another example,the control circuitry may determine that Episode 6 is not availablegiven the user's budget constraint of $5.00, because the only sourceoffering Episode 6 before the broadcast time of Episode 8 charges $50.00for an on-demand access.

In some embodiments, control circuitry may automatically generate fordisplay a notification indicating a second start time of the requestedmedia that is later than the first time. In some embodiments, thecontrol circuitry may determine that the second start time is sufficientfor each media asset in the subset to be completely consumed prior tothe second start time. For example, the control circuitry may determinethat Episode 8 of The Blacklist will be aired again (at a secondstarting time) in 2 weeks, after the original air time (i.e., the firststarting time) that was scheduled in 5 days. The control circuitry mayadditionally determine that Episode 6 will be available on a televisionchannel between the first starting time and the second starting time theEpisode 8, at no cost to the user. Accordingly, the control circuitrymay generate a notification indicating that Episode 8 has a second starttime in two weeks, which is sufficient for Episode 6 to be completelyconsumed in advance of the user viewing Episode 8.

In some embodiments, control circuitry may generate the recommendationby creating possible combinations of the manners of accessing the mediaassets of the subset. The control circuitry may first determine a numberof possible manners of accessing the media assets. For example, thecontrol circuitry may search on the different sources of media assets todetermine various manners of accessing Episodes 5, 6, and 7 ason-demand, pay-per-view, or broadcast media assets. Examples of possiblemanners of access include ordering Episode 5 on-demand via thetelevision ($2.00), ordering Episode 6 as part of a limited-time offeron an online media store (e.g., Apple iTunes Store) ($1.00), schedulingEpisode 7 for recording on television ($0.00, in 10 days), and orderingEpisode 7 on an online video streaming service (e.g., Amazon InstantVideo) ($5.00).

In some embodiments, control circuitry automatically permutes possiblecombinations of the manners of accessing the media assets to generate anevaluation metric, such as a timing and cost metric, for each possiblecombination. For example, one possible combination may be orderingEpisode 5 on television for $2.00, ordering Episode 6 on an online mediastore (e.g., Apple iTunes Store) for $1.00 and scheduling Episode 7 forrecording in 10 days for $0.00. Another possible combination may beordering Episodes 5 and 6 like in the first possible combination, andordering Episode 7 on an online video streaming service (e.g., AmazonInstant Video) for $5.00. The control circuitry may generate anevaluation metric for each possible combination, such that the firstpossible combination will be accessible in 10 days and costs $3.00, andthe second possible combination will be accessible instantly and costs$8.00.

In some embodiments, control circuitry may compare the evaluation metricfor each possible combination against the user constraint to determinean optimal combination. In the above example, the control circuitry may,based on the user constraint of a “$5.00” total budget, determine thatonly the first possible combination meets the user constraint. Hence,the control circuitry may determine that the first possible combinationis the optimal combination in this example.

In some embodiments, control circuitry may generate for display arecommendation for the optimal combination so that the user may chooseto access the media assets as planned. In some embodiments, the controlcircuitry may determine that the recommendation is a notification ordialog box containing selectable options for the user to directly orderon-demand or schedule reminders and/or recordings for the media assets.

In some embodiments, control circuitry may determine that user inputcircuitry has received user input to register a user profile. The userprofile may include user constraints for accessing media assets. Forexample, the control circuitry may determine that the user inputcircuitry can receive the user profile with a remote control on atelevision equipment, a computer keyboard, a Smartphone, a video gameconsole, an electronic tablet, a second screen device, or any other userequipment input circuitry capable of registering user information.

In some embodiments, control circuitry may determine, based on userconstraint, that fewer than all media assets of the subset can beaccessed prior to the start time of the requested media asset. Thecontrol circuitry may generate for display a video summary of at leastone media asset of the subset prior to the first start time of therequested media asset, in order to accommodate the first start time. Forexample, Episode 8 of The Blacklist is scheduled to air in 5 days, andno further broadcast time is available in the future. If the controlcircuitry determines that it is not possible to access all threeepisodes (Episodes 5, 6, and 7) prior to the scheduled broadcast time ofEpisode 8 (e.g., because the first time that Episode 7 is available willbe 10 days later), the control circuitry may compile or retrieve a videosummary of one of Episode 7 and generate the video summary for displayin place of Episode 7.

In some embodiments, the video summary may be a trailer of the at leastone media asset, a shortened version of the at least one media asset, ora compilation of highlights from the at least one media asset. Forexample, control circuitry may offer a link to an online trailer ofEpisode 7 (e.g., on an online video streaming service such as YouTube)prior to the broadcast time of Episode 8 so that the user may view asynopsis of the missing Episode.

In some other embodiments, control circuitry may generate a secondrecommendation based on a second aspect of the user constraint andgenerate for display the second recommendation. Using the example above,the control circuitry may determine that the user constraint may notonly contain a budget ceiling of $5.00, but may also contain a secondaspect that requires at least a Standard Definition (SD) videoresolution for all recommended media assets. The control circuitry maygenerate a second recommendation based on this requirement for displayso that the user may choose to select a viewing option based on heradditional preferences.

In some embodiments, control circuitry may access a database andcross-reference data input by the user against the database to identifya user profile for the user. For example, the control circuitry mayaccess a remote database where past user interactions are saved, andcross-reference more recent interaction data input by the user againstthe past user interactions stored in the database. In this way, thecontrol circuitry may identify the user profile of the user, such as thefact that the user never turned on her television between the hours of8:00 am and 6 pm.

In some embodiments, control circuitry may determine, based on theidentified user profile, a set of user constraints. For example, thecontrol circuitry may determine the user constraints based on theidentified user profile that no programs scheduled to broadcast duringthe hours of 8:00 am and 6 pm should be recommended to the user, unlessthe programs are otherwise recordable.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects and advantages of the disclosure will beapparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencecharacters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative embodiment of a display screen that may beused to provide media guidance application listings and other mediaguidance information, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 2 shows another illustrative embodiment of a display screen thatmay be used to provide media guidance application listings, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an illustrative user equipment (UE) devicein accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an illustrative media system in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 is an illustrative embodiment of a display screen that may beused to provide recommendation for media assets contextually related toa requested media asset, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of illustrative steps involved in arranging mediaassets that are contextually related to a requested media asset foraccess, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure; and

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of illustrative steps involved in determiningmedia assets contextually related to a requested media asset and havenot yet been accessed and generating a recommendation, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure.

DESCRIPTION

Systems and methods are provided herein for automatically arrangingcontextually related media assets for a user to access. In some aspects,these systems and methods comprise determining a user constraint and asubset of media assets that the user has not yet viewed so as togenerate a recommendation, based on the user constraint, for the user toview the media assets in the correct contextual order.

In some embodiments, control circuitry may determine that user inputcircuitry has received, from the user, a request to access a mediaasset. For example, the user may schedule a reminder for Episode 8 ofthe TV series The Blacklist on user equipment using a remote control.Control circuitry may determine that the request indicates that therecording is scheduled for the airing in 5 days.

In some embodiments, control circuitry identifies a first set of mediaassets by consulting a database (or other storage circuitry). Controlcircuitry may ensure that each media asset of the first set of mediaassets is released prior to a release date of the requested media asset.Additionally, control circuitry may ensure that each media asset of thefirst set of media assets shares a context with the requested mediaasset—e.g., by being sequential episodes of a series, movie sequels, orother contextually related videos. For example, the control circuitry ofthe user equipment may consult a remote server to identify media assetsthat share a context with the scheduled Episode 8 of The Blacklist, suchas Episode 7 available on an online video streaming service (e.g.,Netflix), Episode 6 scheduled to air in 2 days, and an on-demand Episode5 available for purchase on another online video streaming service(e.g., Amazon Instant Video).

In some embodiments, control circuitry may determine a subset of mediaassets of the first set of media assets, where the subset of mediaassets have not been viewed by the user. In some embodiments, thecontrol circuitry may make the determination by performing a comparisonof each media asset of the first set of media assets against a viewinghistory of the user. For example, the viewing history of the user mayindicate that Episodes 1-4 have previously been viewed by the user. Thecontrol circuitry may accordingly recommend to the user Episodes 5, 6,and 7 prior to the scheduled airing time of Episode 8.

In some embodiments, control circuitry may access a user profile todetermine a user constraint. The control circuitry may determine thatthe user constraint indicates criteria for finding and arranging thecontextually related media assets, such as video resolution, total costof purchase (i.e., budget), timing of broadcast, duration, theme,availability, mode of delivery, speed of access, user availability, andother user preferences for the media assets. For example, controlcircuitry may access the user profile to determine that the user has seta constraint for a total budget of “$5.00” and resolution of “SD orabove.” The control circuitry may make any subsequent arrangement ofepisodes 6 and 7 for the user that fulfills the user constraint.

In some embodiments, control circuitry may generate a recommendationbased on a first aspect of the user constraint. The control circuitrymay determine that the recommendation includes a recommended manner ofaccessing each media asset of the subset prior to a first start time ofthe requested media asset. For example, the control circuitry mayrecommend accessing Episodes 5, 6, and 7 based on the user budgetconstraint of no more than $5.00, and find that an online media store(e.g., Apple iTunes Store) offers all three episodes at $4.50 for alimited time. If the episodes on the online media store can be accessedprior to the start time of the scheduled Episode 8, the controlcircuitry may generate a recommendation containing Episodes 5, 6, and 7as found on the online media store, along with their associated cost andtiming information.

In some embodiments, control circuitry may generate the recommendationfor display. For example, the control circuitry of the user equipmentmay generate for display a notification box indicating that Episodes 5,6, and 7 may be accessed from an online media store (e.g., Apple iTunesStore) prior to the scheduling broadcast time of Episode 8, for a totalcost that is within the budget set by the user constraint.

Interactive media guidance applications may take various forms dependingon the content for which they provide guidance. One typical type ofmedia guidance application is an interactive television program guide.Interactive television program guides (sometimes referred to aselectronic program guides) are well-known guidance applications that,among other things, allow users to navigate among and locate many typesof content or media assets. Interactive media guidance applications maygenerate graphical user interface screens that enable a user to navigateamong, locate and select content. As referred to herein, the terms“media asset” and “content” should be understood to mean anelectronically consumable user asset, such as television programming, aswell as pay-per-view programs, on-demand programs (as in video-on-demand(VOD) systems), Internet content (e.g., streaming content, downloadablecontent, Webcasts, etc.), video clips, audio, content information,pictures, rotating images, documents, playlists, websites, articles,books, electronic books, blogs, advertisements, chat sessions, socialmedia, applications, games, and/or any other media or multimedia and/orcombination of the same. Guidance applications also allow users tonavigate among and locate content. As referred to herein, the term“multimedia” should be understood to mean content that utilizes at leasttwo different content forms described above, for example, text, audio,images, video, or interactivity content forms. Content may be recorded,played, displayed or accessed by user equipment devices, but can also bepart of a live performance.

The media guidance application and/or any instructions for performingany of the embodiments discussed herein may be encoded on computerreadable media. Computer readable media includes any media capable ofstoring data. The computer readable media may be transitory, including,but not limited to, propagating electrical or electromagnetic signals,or may be non-transitory including, but not limited to, volatile andnon-volatile computer memory or storage devices such as a hard disk,floppy disk, USB drive, DVD, CD, media cards, register memory, processorcaches, Random Access Memory (“RAM”), etc.

With the advent of the Internet, mobile computing, and high-speedwireless networks, users are accessing media on user equipment deviceson which they traditionally did not. As referred to herein, the phrase“user equipment device,” “user equipment,” “user device,” “electronicdevice,” “electronic equipment,” “media equipment device,” or “mediadevice” should be understood to mean any device for accessing thecontent described above, such as a television, a Smart TV, a set-topbox, an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) for handling satellitetelevision, a digital storage device, a digital media receiver (DMR), adigital media adapter (DMA), a streaming media device, a DVD player, aDVD recorder, a connected DVD, a local media server, a BLU-RAY player, aBLU-RAY recorder, a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer, a tabletcomputer, a WebTV box, a personal computer television (PC/TV), a PCmedia server, a PC media center, a hand-held computer, a stationarytelephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, aportable video player, a portable music player, a portable gamingmachine, a smart phone, or any other television equipment, computingequipment, or wireless device, and/or combination of the same. In someembodiments, the user equipment device may have a front facing screenand a rear facing screen, multiple front screens, or multiple angledscreens. In some embodiments, the user equipment device may have a frontfacing camera and/or a rear facing camera. On these user equipmentdevices, users may be able to navigate among and locate the same contentavailable through a television. Consequently, media guidance may beavailable on these devices, as well. The guidance provided may be forcontent available only through a television, for content available onlythrough one or more of other types of user equipment devices, or forcontent available both through a television and one or more of the othertypes of user equipment devices. The media guidance applications may beprovided as on-line applications (i.e., provided on a web-site), or asstand-alone applications or clients on user equipment devices. Variousdevices and platforms that may implement media guidance applications aredescribed in more detail below.

One of the functions of the media guidance application is to providemedia guidance data to users. As referred to herein, the phrase “mediaguidance data” or “guidance data” should be understood to mean any datarelated to content or data used in operating the guidance application.For example, the guidance data may include program information, guidanceapplication settings, user preferences, user profile information, medialistings, media-related information (e.g., broadcast times, broadcastchannels, titles, descriptions, ratings information (e.g., parentalcontrol ratings, critic's ratings, etc.), genre or category information,actor information, logo data for broadcasters' or providers' logos,etc.), media format (e.g., standard definition, high definition, 3D,etc.), advertisement information (e.g., text, images, media clips,etc.), on-demand information, blogs, websites, and any other type ofguidance data that is helpful for a user to navigate among and locatedesired content selections.

FIGS. 1-2 show illustrative display screens that may be used to providemedia guidance data. The display screens shown in FIGS. 1-2 may beimplemented on any suitable user equipment device or platform. While thedisplays of FIGS. 1-2 are illustrated as full screen displays, they mayalso be fully or partially overlaid over content being displayed. A usermay indicate a desire to access content information by selecting aselectable option provided in a display screen (e.g., a menu option, alistings option, an icon, a hyperlink, etc.) or pressing a dedicatedbutton (e.g., a GUIDE button) on a remote control or other user inputinterface or device. In response to the user's indication, the mediaguidance application may provide a display screen with media guidancedata organized in one of several ways, such as by time and channel in agrid, by time, by channel, by source, by content type, by category(e.g., movies, sports, news, children, or other categories ofprogramming), or other predefined, user-defined, or other organizationcriteria.

FIG. 1 shows illustrative grid of a program listings display 100arranged by time and channel that also enables access to different typesof content in a single display. Display 100 may include grid 102 with:(1) a column of channel/content type identifiers 104, where eachchannel/content type identifier (which is a cell in the column)identifies a different channel or content type available; and (2) a rowof time identifiers 106, where each time identifier (which is a cell inthe row) identifies a time block of programming. Grid 102 also includescells of program listings, such as program listing 108, where eachlisting provides the title of the program provided on the listing'sassociated channel and time. With a user input device, a user can selectprogram listings by moving highlight region 110. Information relating tothe program listing selected by highlight region 110 may be provided inprogram information region 112. Region 112 may include, for example, theprogram title, the program description, the time the program is provided(if applicable), the channel the program is on (if applicable), theprogram's rating, and other desired information.

In addition to providing access to linear programming (e.g., contentthat is scheduled to be transmitted to a plurality of user equipmentdevices at a predetermined time and is provided according to aschedule), the media guidance application also provides access tonon-linear programming (e.g., content accessible to a user equipmentdevice at any time and is not provided according to a schedule).Non-linear programming may include content from different contentsources including on-demand content (e.g., VOD), Internet content (e.g.,streaming media, downloadable media, etc.), locally stored content(e.g., content stored on any user equipment device described above orother storage device), or other time-independent content. On-demandcontent may include movies or any other content provided by a particularcontent provider (e.g., HBO On Demand providing “The Sopranos” and “CurbYour Enthusiasm”). HBO ON DEMAND is a service mark owned by Time WarnerCompany L.P. et al. and THE SOPRANOS and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM aretrademarks owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Internet content mayinclude web events, such as a chat session or Webcast, or contentavailable on-demand as streaming content or downloadable content throughan Internet web site or other Internet access (e.g. FTP).

Grid 102 may provide media guidance data for non-linear programmingincluding on-demand listing 114, recorded content listing 116, andInternet content listing 118. A display combining media guidance datafor content from different types of content sources is sometimesreferred to as a “mixed-media” display. Various permutations of thetypes of media guidance data that may be displayed that are differentthan display 100 may be based on user selection or guidance applicationdefinition (e.g., a display of only recorded and broadcast listings,only on-demand and broadcast listings, etc.). As illustrated, listings114, 116, and 118 are shown as spanning the entire time block displayedin grid 102 to indicate that selection of these listings may provideaccess to a display dedicated to on-demand listings, recorded listings,or Internet listings, respectively. In some embodiments, listings forthese content types may be included directly in grid 102. Additionalmedia guidance data may be displayed in response to the user selectingone of the navigational icons 120. (Pressing an arrow key on a userinput device may affect the display in a similar manner as selectingnavigational icons 120.)

Display 100 may also include video region 122, advertisement 124, andoptions region 126. Video region 122 may allow the user to view and/orpreview programs that are currently available, will be available, orwere available to the user. The content of video region 122 maycorrespond to, or be independent from, one of the listings displayed ingrid 102. Grid displays including a video region are sometimes referredto as picture-in-guide (PIG) displays. PIG displays and theirfunctionalities are described in greater detail in Satterfield et al.U.S. Pat. No. 6,564,378, issued May 13, 2003 and Yuen et al. U.S. Pat.No. 6,239,794, issued May 29, 2001, which are hereby incorporated byreference herein in their entireties. PIG displays may be included inother media guidance application display screens of the embodimentsdescribed herein.

Advertisement 124 may provide an advertisement for content that,depending on a viewer's access rights (e.g., for subscriptionprogramming), is currently available for viewing, will be available forviewing in the future, or may never become available for viewing, andmay correspond to or be unrelated to one or more of the content listingsin grid 102. Advertisement 124 may also be for products or servicesrelated or unrelated to the content displayed in grid 102. Advertisement124 may be selectable and provide further information about content,provide information about a product or a service, enable purchasing ofcontent, a product, or a service, provide content relating to theadvertisement, etc. Advertisement 124 may be targeted based on a user'sprofile/preferences, monitored user activity, the type of displayprovided, or on other suitable targeted advertisement bases.

While advertisement 124 is shown as rectangular or banner shaped,advertisements may be provided in any suitable size, shape, and locationin a guidance application display. For example, advertisement 124 may beprovided as a rectangular shape that is horizontally adjacent to grid102. This is sometimes referred to as a panel advertisement. Inaddition, advertisements may be overlaid over content or a guidanceapplication display or embedded within a display. Advertisements mayalso include text, images, rotating images, video clips, or other typesof content described above. Advertisements may be stored in a userequipment device having a guidance application, in a database connectedto the user equipment, in a remote location (including streaming mediaservers), or on other storage means, or a combination of theselocations. Providing advertisements in a media guidance application isdiscussed in greater detail in, for example, Knudson et al., U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2003/0110499, filed Jan. 17, 2003; Ward, IIIet al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,756,997, issued Jun. 29, 2004; and Schein et al.U.S. Pat. No. 6,388,714, issued May 14, 2002, which are herebyincorporated by reference herein in their entireties. It will beappreciated that advertisements may be included in other media guidanceapplication display screens of the embodiments described herein.

Options region 126 may allow the user to access different types ofcontent, media guidance application displays, and/or media guidanceapplication features. Options region 126 may be part of display 100 (andother display screens described herein), or may be invoked by a user byselecting an on-screen option or pressing a dedicated or assignablebutton on a user input device. The selectable options within optionsregion 126 may concern features related to program listings in grid 102or may include options available from a main menu display. Featuresrelated to program listings may include searching for other air times orways of receiving a program, recording a program, enabling seriesrecording of a program, setting program and/or channel as a favorite,purchasing a program, or other features. Options available from a mainmenu display may include search options, VOD options, parental controloptions, Internet options, cloud-based options, device synchronizationoptions, second screen device options, options to access various typesof media guidance data displays, options to subscribe to a premiumservice, options to edit a user's profile, options to access a browseoverlay, or other options.

The media guidance application may be personalized based on a user'spreferences. A personalized media guidance application allows a user tocustomize displays and features to create a personalized “experience”with the media guidance application. This personalized experience may becreated by allowing a user to input these customizations and/or by themedia guidance application monitoring user activity to determine varioususer preferences. Users may access their personalized guidanceapplication by logging in or otherwise identifying themselves to theguidance application. Customization of the media guidance applicationmay be made in accordance with a user profile. The customizations mayinclude varying presentation schemes (e.g., color scheme of displays,font size of text, etc.), aspects of content listings displayed (e.g.,only HDTV or only 3D programming, user-specified broadcast channelsbased on favorite channel selections, re-ordering the display ofchannels, recommended content, etc.), desired recording features (e.g.,recording or series recordings for particular users, recording quality,etc.), parental control settings, customized presentation of Internetcontent (e.g., presentation of social media content, e-mail,electronically delivered articles, etc.) and other desiredcustomizations.

The media guidance application may allow a user to provide user profileinformation or may automatically compile user profile information. Themedia guidance application may, for example, monitor the content theuser accesses and/or other interactions the user may have with theguidance application. Additionally, the media guidance application mayobtain all or part of other user profiles that are related to aparticular user (e.g., from other web sites on the Internet the useraccesses, such as www.allrovi.com, from other media guidanceapplications the user accesses, from other interactive applications theuser accesses, from another user equipment device of the user, etc.),and/or obtain information about the user from other sources that themedia guidance application may access. As a result, a user can beprovided with a unified guidance application experience across theuser's different user equipment devices. This type of user experience isdescribed in greater detail below in connection with FIG. 4. Additionalpersonalized media guidance application features are described ingreater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No.2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005, Boyer et al., U.S. Pat. No.7,165,098, issued Jan. 16, 2007, and Ellis et al., U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2002/0174430, filed Feb. 21, 2002, which arehereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

Another display arrangement for providing media guidance is shown inFIG. 2. Video mosaic display 200 includes selectable options 202 forcontent information organized based on content type, genre, and/or otherorganization criteria. In display 200, television listings option 204 isselected, thus providing listings 206, 208, 210, and 212 as broadcastprogram listings. In display 200 the listings may provide graphicalimages including cover art, still images from the content, video clippreviews, live video from the content, or other types of content thatindicate to a user the content being described by the media guidancedata in the listing. Each of the graphical listings may also beaccompanied by text to provide further information about the contentassociated with the listing. For example, listing 208 may include morethan one portion, including media portion 214 and text portion 216.Media portion 214 and/or text portion 216 may be selectable to viewcontent in full-screen or to view information related to the contentdisplayed in media portion 214 (e.g., to view listings for the channelthat the video is displayed on).

The listings in display 200 are of different sizes (i.e., listing 206 islarger than listings 208, 210, and 212), but if desired, all thelistings may be the same size. Listings may be of different sizes orgraphically accentuated to indicate degrees of interest to the user orto emphasize certain content, as desired by the content provider orbased on user preferences. Various systems and methods for graphicallyaccentuating content listings are discussed in, for example, Yates, U.S.Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0153885, filed Nov. 12, 2009,which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Users may access content and the media guidance application (and itsdisplay screens described above and below) from one or more of theiruser equipment devices. FIG. 3 shows a generalized embodiment ofillustrative user equipment device 300. More specific implementations ofuser equipment devices are discussed below in connection with FIG. 4.User equipment device 300 may receive content and data via input/output(hereinafter “I/O”) path 302. I/O path 302 may provide content (e.g.,broadcast programming, on-demand programming, Internet content, contentavailable over a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN),and/or other content) and data to control circuitry 304, which includesprocessing circuitry 306 and storage 308. Control circuitry 304 may beused to send and receive commands, requests, and other suitable datausing I/O path 302. I/O path 302 may connect control circuitry 304 (andspecifically processing circuitry 306) to one or more communicationspaths (described below). I/O functions may be provided by one or more ofthese communications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 3 toavoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Control circuitry 304 may be based on any suitable processing circuitrysuch as processing circuitry 306. As referred to herein, processingcircuitry should be understood to mean circuitry based on one or moremicroprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors,programmable logic devices, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs),application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc., and may includea multi-core processor (e.g., dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core, or anysuitable number of cores) or supercomputer. In some embodiments,processing circuitry may be distributed across multiple separateprocessors or processing units, for example, multiple of the same typeof processing units (e.g., two Intel Core i7 processors) or multipledifferent processors (e.g., an Intel Core i5 processor and an Intel Corei7 processor). In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 executesinstructions for a media guidance application stored in memory (i.e.,storage 308). Specifically, control circuitry 304 may be instructed bythe media guidance application to perform the functions discussed aboveand below. For example, the media guidance application may provideinstructions to control circuitry 304 to generate the media guidancedisplays. In some implementations, any action performed by controlcircuitry 304 may be based on instructions received from the mediaguidance application.

In client-server based embodiments, control circuitry 304 may includecommunications circuitry suitable for communicating with a guidanceapplication server or other networks or servers. The instructions forcarrying out the above mentioned functionality may be stored on theguidance application server. Communications circuitry may include acable modem, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) modem, adigital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a telephone modem, Ethernet card,or a wireless modem for communications with other equipment, or anyother suitable communications circuitry. Such communications may involvethe Internet or any other suitable communications networks or paths(which is described in more detail in connection with FIG. 4). Inaddition, communications circuitry may include circuitry that enablespeer-to-peer communication of user equipment devices, or communicationof user equipment devices in locations remote from each other (describedin more detail below).

Memory may be an electronic storage device provided as storage 308 thatis part of control circuitry 304. As referred to herein, the phrase“electronic storage device” or “storage device” should be understood tomean any device for storing electronic data, computer software, orfirmware, such as random-access memory, read-only memory, hard drives,optical drives, digital video disc (DVD) recorders, compact disc (CD)recorders, BLU-RAY disc (BD) recorders, BLU-RAY 3D disc recorders,digital video recorders (DVR, sometimes called a personal videorecorder, or PVR), solid state devices, quantum storage devices, gamingconsoles, gaming media, or any other suitable fixed or removable storagedevices, and/or any combination of the same. Storage 308 may be used tostore various types of content described herein as well as mediaguidance data described above. Nonvolatile memory may also be used(e.g., to launch a boot-up routine and other instructions). Cloud-basedstorage, described in relation to FIG. 4, may be used to supplementstorage 308 or instead of storage 308.

Control circuitry 304 may include video generating circuitry and tuningcircuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, high-definition tuners, orany other suitable tuning or video circuits or combinations of suchcircuits. Encoding circuitry (e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog,or digital signals to MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided.Control circuitry 304 may also include scaler circuitry for upconvertingand downconverting content into the preferred output format of the userequipment 300. Circuitry 304 may also include digital-to-analogconverter circuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry forconverting between digital and analog signals. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may be used by the user equipment device to receive and todisplay, to play, or to record content. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may also be used to receive guidance data. The circuitrydescribed herein, including for example, the tuning, video generating,encoding, decoding, encrypting, decrypting, scaler, and analog/digitalcircuitry, may be implemented using software running on one or moregeneral purpose or specialized processors. Multiple tuners may beprovided to handle simultaneous tuning functions (e.g., watch and recordfunctions, picture-in-picture (PIP) functions, multiple-tuner recording,etc.). If storage 308 is provided as a separate device from userequipment 300, the tuning and encoding circuitry (including multipletuners) may be associated with storage 308.

A user may send instructions to control circuitry 304 using user inputinterface 310. User input interface 310 may be any suitable userinterface, such as a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad, keyboard,touch screen, touchpad, stylus input, joystick, voice recognitioninterface, or other user input interfaces. Display 312 may be providedas a stand-alone device or integrated with other elements of userequipment device 300. For example, display 312 may be a touchscreen ortouch-sensitive display. In such circumstances, user input interface 310may be integrated with or combined with display 312. Display 312 may beone or more of a monitor, a television, a liquid crystal display (LCD)for a mobile device, amorphous silicon display, low temperature polysilicon display, electronic ink display, electrophoretic display, activematrix display, electro-wetting display, electrofluidic display, cathoderay tube display, light-emitting diode display, electroluminescentdisplay, plasma display panel, high-performance addressing display,thin-film transistor display, organic light-emitting diode display,surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED), laser television,carbon nanotubes, quantum dot display, interferometric modulatordisplay, or any other suitable equipment for displaying visual images.In some embodiments, display 312 may be HDTV-capable. In someembodiments, display 312 may be a 3D display, and the interactive mediaguidance application and any suitable content may be displayed in 3D. Avideo card or graphics card may generate the output to the display 312.The video card may offer various functions such as accelerated renderingof 3D scenes and 2D graphics, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, TV output, or theability to connect multiple monitors. The video card may be anyprocessing circuitry described above in relation to control circuitry304. The video card may be integrated with control circuitry 304 304.Speakers 314 may be provided as integrated with other elements of userequipment device 300 or may be stand-alone units. The audio component ofvideos and other content displayed on display 312 may be played throughspeakers 314. In some embodiments, the audio may be distributed to areceiver (not shown), which processes and outputs the audio via speakers314.

The guidance application may be implemented using any suitablearchitecture. For example, it may be a stand-alone applicationwholly-implemented on user equipment device 300. In such an approach,instructions of the application are stored locally (e.g., in storage308), and data for use by the application is downloaded on a periodicbasis (e.g., from an out-of-band feed, from an Internet resource, orusing another suitable approach). Control circuitry 304 may retrieveinstructions of the application from storage 308 and process theinstructions to generate any of the displays discussed herein. Based onthe processed instructions, control circuitry 304 may determine whataction to perform when input is received from input interface 310. Forexample, movement of a cursor on a display up/down may be indicated bythe processed instructions when input interface 310 indicates that anup/down button was selected.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is a client-serverbased application. Data for use by a thick or thin client implemented onuser equipment device 300 is retrieved on-demand by issuing requests toa server remote to the user equipment device 300. In one example of aclient-server based guidance application, control circuitry 304 runs aweb browser that interprets web pages provided by a remote server. Forexample, the remote server may store the instructions for theapplication in a storage device. The remote server may process thestored instructions using circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 304) andgenerate the displays discussed above and below. The client device mayreceive the displays generated by the remote server and may display thecontent of the displays locally on equipment device 300. This way, theprocessing of the instructions is performed remotely by the server whilethe resulting displays are provided locally on equipment device 300.Equipment device 300 may receive inputs from the user via inputinterface 310 and transmit those inputs to the remote server forprocessing and generating the corresponding displays. For example,equipment device 300 may transmit a communication to the remote serverindicating that an up/down button was selected via input interface 310.The remote server may process instructions in accordance with that inputand generate a display of the application corresponding to the input(e.g., a display that moves a cursor up/down). The generated display isthen transmitted to equipment device 300 for presentation to the user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is downloaded andinterpreted or otherwise run by an interpreter or virtual machine (runby control circuitry 304). In some embodiments, the guidance applicationmay be encoded in the ETV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF), received bycontrol circuitry 304 as part of a suitable feed, and interpreted by auser agent running on control circuitry 304. For example, the guidanceapplication may be an EBIF application. In some embodiments, theguidance application may be defined by a series of JAVA-based files thatare received and run by a local virtual machine or other suitablemiddleware executed by control circuitry 304. In some of suchembodiments (e.g., those employing MPEG-2 or other digital mediaencoding schemes), the guidance application may be, for example, encodedand transmitted in an MPEG-2 object carousel with the MPEG audio andvideo packets of a program.

User equipment device 300 of FIG. 3 can be implemented in system 400 ofFIG. 4 as user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404,wireless user communications device 406, or any other type of userequipment suitable for accessing content, such as a non-portable gamingmachine. For simplicity, these devices may be referred to hereincollectively as user equipment or user equipment devices, and may besubstantially similar to user equipment devices described above. Userequipment devices, on which a media guidance application may beimplemented, may function as a standalone device or may be part of anetwork of devices. Various network configurations of devices may beimplemented and are discussed in more detail below.

A user equipment device utilizing at least some of the system featuresdescribed above in connection with FIG. 3 may not be classified solelyas user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, or awireless user communications device 406. For example, user televisionequipment 402 may, like some user computer equipment 404, beInternet-enabled allowing for access to Internet content, while usercomputer equipment 404 may, like some television equipment 402, includea tuner allowing for access to television programming. The mediaguidance application may have the same layout on various different typesof user equipment or may be tailored to the display capabilities of theuser equipment. For example, on user computer equipment 404, theguidance application may be provided as a web site accessed by a webbrowser. In another example, the guidance application may be scaled downfor wireless user communications devices 406.

In system 400, there is typically more than one of each type of userequipment device but only one of each is shown in FIG. 4 to avoidovercomplicating the drawing. In addition, each user may utilize morethan one type of user equipment device and also more than one of eachtype of user equipment device.

In some embodiments, a user equipment device (e.g., user televisionequipment 402, user computer equipment 404, wireless user communicationsdevice 406) may be referred to as a “second screen device.” For example,a second screen device may supplement content presented on a first userequipment device. The content presented on the second screen device maybe any suitable content that supplements the content presented on thefirst device. In some embodiments, the second screen device provides aninterface for adjusting settings and display preferences of the firstdevice. In some embodiments, the second screen device is configured forinteracting with other second screen devices or for interacting with asocial network. The second screen device can be located in the same roomas the first device, a different room from the first device but in thesame house or building, or in a different building from the firstdevice.

The user may also set various settings to maintain consistent mediaguidance application settings across in-home devices and remote devices.Settings include those described herein, as well as channel and programfavorites, programming preferences that the guidance applicationutilizes to make programming recommendations, display preferences, andother desirable guidance settings. For example, if a user sets a channelas a favorite on, for example, the web site www.allrovi.com on theirpersonal computer at their office, the same channel would appear as afavorite on the user's in-home devices (e.g., user television equipmentand user computer equipment) as well as the user's mobile devices, ifdesired. Therefore, changes made on one user equipment device can changethe guidance experience on another user equipment device, regardless ofwhether they are the same or a different type of user equipment device.In addition, the changes made may be based on settings input by a user,as well as user activity monitored by the guidance application.

The user equipment devices may be coupled to communications network 414.Namely, user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, andwireless user communications device 406 are coupled to communicationsnetwork 414 via communications paths 408, 410, and 412, respectively.Communications network 414 may be one or more networks including theInternet, a mobile phone network, mobile voice or data network (e.g., a4G or LTE network), cable network, public switched telephone network, orother types of communications network or combinations of communicationsnetworks. Paths 408, 410, and 412 may separately or together include oneor more communications paths, such as, a satellite path, a fiber-opticpath, a cable path, a path that supports Internet communications (e.g.,IPTV), free-space connections (e.g., for broadcast or other wirelesssignals), or any other suitable wired or wireless communications path orcombination of such paths. Path 412 is drawn with dotted lines toindicate that in the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 4 it is awireless path and paths 408 and 410 are drawn as solid lines to indicatethey are wired paths (although these paths may be wireless paths, ifdesired). Communications with the user equipment devices may be providedby one or more of these communications paths, but are shown as a singlepath in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Although communications paths are not drawn between user equipmentdevices, these devices may communicate directly with each other viacommunication paths, such as those described above in connection withpaths 408, 410, and 412, as well as other short-range point-to-pointcommunication paths, such as USB cables, IEEE 1394 cables, wirelesspaths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x, etc.), or othershort-range communication via wired or wireless paths. BLUETOOTH is acertification mark owned by Bluetooth SIG, INC. The user equipmentdevices may also communicate with each other directly through anindirect path via communications network 414.

System 400 includes content source 416 and media guidance data source418 coupled to communications network 414 via communication paths 420and 422, respectively. Paths 420 and 422 may include any of thecommunication paths described above in connection with paths 408, 410,and 412. Communications with the content source 416 and media guidancedata source 418 may be exchanged over one or more communications paths,but are shown as a single path in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating thedrawing. In addition, there may be more than one of each of contentsource 416 and media guidance data source 418, but only one of each isshown in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. (The differenttypes of each of these sources are discussed below.) If desired, contentsource 416 and media guidance data source 418 may be integrated as onesource device. Although communications between sources 416 and 418 withuser equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 are shown as throughcommunications network 414, in some embodiments, sources 416 and 418 maycommunicate directly with user equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 viacommunication paths (not shown) such as those described above inconnection with paths 408, 410, and 412.

Content source 416 may include one or more types of content distributionequipment including a television distribution facility, cable systemheadend, satellite distribution facility, programming sources (e.g.,television broadcasters, such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediatedistribution facilities and/or servers, Internet providers, on-demandmedia servers, and other content providers. NBC is a trademark owned bythe National Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by theAmerican Broadcasting Company, Inc., and HBO is a trademark owned by theHome Box Office, Inc. Content source 416 may be the originator ofcontent (e.g., a television broadcaster, a Webcast provider, etc.) ormay not be the originator of content (e.g., an on-demand contentprovider, an Internet provider of content of broadcast programs fordownloading, etc.). Content source 416 may include cable sources,satellite providers, on-demand providers, Internet providers,over-the-top content providers, or other providers of content. Contentsource 416 may also include a remote media server used to storedifferent types of content (including video content selected by a user),in a location remote from any of the user equipment devices. Systems andmethods for remote storage of content, and providing remotely storedcontent to user equipment are discussed in greater detail in connectionwith Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,761,892, issued Jul. 20, 2010, whichis hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Media guidance data source 418 may provide media guidance data, such asthe media guidance data described above. Media guidance data may beprovided to the user equipment devices using any suitable approach. Insome embodiments, the guidance application may be a stand-aloneinteractive television program guide that receives program guide datavia a data feed (e.g., a continuous feed or trickle feed). Programschedule data and other guidance data may be provided to the userequipment on a television channel sideband, using an in-band digitalsignal, using an out-of-band digital signal, or by any other suitabledata transmission technique. Program schedule data and other mediaguidance data may be provided to user equipment on multiple analog ordigital television channels.

In some embodiments, guidance data from media guidance data source 418may be provided to users' equipment using a client-server approach. Forexample, a user equipment device may pull media guidance data from aserver, or a server may push media guidance data to a user equipmentdevice. In some embodiments, a guidance application client residing onthe user's equipment may initiate sessions with source 418 to obtainguidance data when needed, e.g., when the guidance data is out of dateor when the user equipment device receives a request from the user toreceive data. Media guidance may be provided to the user equipment withany suitable frequency (e.g., continuously, daily, a user-specifiedperiod of time, a system-specified period of time, in response to arequest from user equipment, etc.). Media guidance data source 418 mayprovide user equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 the media guidanceapplication itself or software updates for the media guidanceapplication.

In some embodiments, the media guidance data may include viewer data.For example, the viewer data may include current and/or historical useractivity information (e.g., what content the user typically watches,what times of day the user watches content, whether the user interactswith a social network, at what times the user interacts with a socialnetwork to post information, what types of content the user typicallywatches (e.g., pay TV or free TV), mood, brain activity information,etc.). The media guidance data may also include subscription data. Forexample, the subscription data may identify to which sources or servicesa given user subscribes and/or to which sources or services the givenuser has previously subscribed but later terminated access (e.g.,whether the user subscribes to premium channels, whether the user hasadded a premium level of services, whether the user has increasedInternet speed). In some embodiments, the viewer data and/or thesubscription data may identify patterns of a given user for a period ofmore than one year. The media guidance data may include a model (e.g., asurvivor model) used for generating a score that indicates a likelihooda given user will terminate access to a service/source. For example, themedia guidance application may process the viewer data with thesubscription data using the model to generate a value or score thatindicates a likelihood of whether the given user will terminate accessto a particular service or source. In particular, a higher score mayindicate a higher level of confidence that the user will terminateaccess to a particular service or source. Based on the score, the mediaguidance application may generate promotions and advertisements thatentice the user to keep the particular service or source indicated bythe score as one to which the user will likely terminate access.

Media guidance applications may be, for example, stand-aloneapplications implemented on user equipment devices. For example, themedia guidance application may be implemented as software or a set ofexecutable instructions which may be stored in storage 308, and executedby control circuitry 304 of a user equipment device 300. In someembodiments, media guidance applications may be client-serverapplications where only a client application resides on the userequipment device, and server application resides on a remote server. Forexample, media guidance applications may be implemented partially as aclient application on control circuitry 304 of user equipment device 300and partially on a remote server as a server application (e.g., mediaguidance data source 418) running on control circuitry of the remoteserver. When executed by control circuitry of the remote server (such asmedia guidance data source 418), the media guidance application mayinstruct control circuitry 304 to generate the guidance applicationdisplays and transmit the generated displays to the user equipmentdevices. The server application may instruct control circuitry 304 ofthe media guidance data source 418 to transmit data for storage on theuser equipment. The client application may instruct control circuitry ofthe receiving user equipment to generate the guidance applicationdisplays.

Content and/or media guidance data delivered to user equipment devices402, 404, and 406 may be over-the-top (OTT) content. OTT contentdelivery allows Internet-enabled user devices, including any userequipment device described above, to receive content that is transferredover the Internet, including any content described above, in addition tocontent received over cable or satellite connections. OTT content isdelivered via an Internet connection provided by an Internet serviceprovider (ISP), but a third party distributes the content. The ISP maynot be responsible for the viewing abilities, copyrights, orredistribution of the content, and may only transfer IP packets providedby the OTT content provider. Examples of OTT content providers includeYouTube, Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, and Hulu, which provide audioand video via IP packets. YouTube is a trademark owned by Google Inc.,Netflix is a trademark owned by Netflix Inc., Amazon Instant Video is atrademark owned by Amazon.com, Inc., and Hulu is a trademark owned byHulu, LLC. OTT content providers may additionally or alternativelyprovide media guidance data described above. In addition to contentand/or media guidance data, providers of OTT content can distributemedia guidance applications (e.g., web-based applications or cloud-basedapplications), or the content can be displayed by media guidanceapplications stored on the user equipment device.

Media guidance system 400 is intended to illustrate a number ofapproaches, or network configurations, by which user equipment devicesand sources of content and guidance data may communicate with each otherfor the purpose of accessing content and providing media guidance. Theembodiments described herein may be applied in any one or a subset ofthese approaches, or in a system employing other approaches fordelivering content and providing media guidance. The following fourapproaches provide specific illustrations of the generalized example ofFIG. 4.

In one approach, user equipment devices may communicate with each otherwithin a home network. User equipment devices can communicate with eachother directly via short-range point-to-point communication schemesdescribed above, via indirect paths through a hub or other similardevice provided on a home network, or via communications network 414.Each of the multiple individuals in a single home may operate differentuser equipment devices on the home network. As a result, it may bedesirable for various media guidance information or settings to becommunicated between the different user equipment devices. For example,it may be desirable for users to maintain consistent media guidanceapplication settings on different user equipment devices within a homenetwork, as described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. PatentPublication No. 2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005. Different types ofuser equipment devices in a home network may also communicate with eachother to transmit content. For example, a user may transmit content fromuser computer equipment to a portable video player or portable musicplayer.

In a second approach, users may have multiple types of user equipment bywhich they access content and obtain media guidance. For example, someusers may have home networks that are accessed by in-home and mobiledevices. Users may control in-home devices via a media guidanceapplication implemented on a remote device. For example, users mayaccess an online media guidance application on a website via a personalcomputer at their office, or a mobile device such as a PDA orweb-enabled mobile telephone. The user may set various settings (e.g.,recordings, reminders, or other settings) on the online guidanceapplication to control the user's in-home equipment. The online guidemay control the user's equipment directly, or by communicating with amedia guidance application on the user's in-home equipment. Varioussystems and methods for user equipment devices communicating, where theuser equipment devices are in locations remote from each other, isdiscussed in, for example, Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,046,801, issuedOct. 25, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

In a third approach, users of user equipment devices inside and outsidea home can use their media guidance application to communicate directlywith content source 416 to access content. Specifically, within a home,users of user television equipment 402 and user computer equipment 404may access the media guidance application to navigate among and locatedesirable content. Users may also access the media guidance applicationoutside of the home using wireless user communications devices 406 tonavigate among and locate desirable content.

In a fourth approach, user equipment devices may operate in a cloudcomputing environment to access cloud services. In a cloud computingenvironment, various types of computing services for content sharing,storage or distribution (e.g., video sharing sites or social networkingsites) are provided by a collection of network-accessible computing andstorage resources, referred to as “the cloud.” For example, the cloudcan include a collection of server computing devices, which may belocated centrally or at distributed locations, that provide cloud-basedservices to various types of users and devices connected via a networksuch as the Internet via communications network 414. These cloudresources may include one or more content sources 416 and one or moremedia guidance data sources 418. In addition or in the alternative, theremote computing sites may include other user equipment devices, such asuser television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, and wirelessuser communications device 406. For example, the other user equipmentdevices may provide access to a stored copy of a video or a streamedvideo. In such embodiments, user equipment devices may operate in apeer-to-peer manner without communicating with a central server.

The cloud provides access to services, such as content storage, contentsharing, or social networking services, among other examples, as well asaccess to any content described above, for user equipment devices.Services can be provided in the cloud through cloud computing serviceproviders, or through other providers of online services. For example,the cloud-based services can include a content storage service, acontent sharing site, a social networking site, or other services viawhich user-sourced content is distributed for viewing by others onconnected devices. These cloud-based services may allow a user equipmentdevice to store content to the cloud and to receive content from thecloud rather than storing content locally and accessing locally-storedcontent.

A user may use various content capture devices, such as camcorders,digital cameras with video mode, audio recorders, mobile phones, andhandheld computing devices, to record content. The user can uploadcontent to a content storage service on the cloud either directly, forexample, from user computer equipment 404 or wireless usercommunications device 406 having content capture feature. Alternatively,the user can first transfer the content to a user equipment device, suchas user computer equipment 404. The user equipment device storing thecontent uploads the content to the cloud using a data transmissionservice on communications network 414. In some embodiments, the userequipment device itself is a cloud resource, and other user equipmentdevices can access the content directly from the user equipment deviceon which the user stored the content.

Cloud resources may be accessed by a user equipment device using, forexample, a web browser, a media guidance application, a desktopapplication, a mobile application, and/or any combination of accessapplications of the same. The user equipment device may be a cloudclient that relies on cloud computing for application delivery, or theuser equipment device may have some functionality without access tocloud resources. For example, some applications running on the userequipment device may be cloud applications, i.e., applications deliveredas a service over the Internet, while other applications may be storedand run on the user equipment device. In some embodiments, a user devicemay receive content from multiple cloud resources simultaneously. Forexample, a user device can stream audio from one cloud resource whiledownloading content from a second cloud resource. Or a user device candownload content from multiple cloud resources for more efficientdownloading. In some embodiments, user equipment devices can use cloudresources for processing operations such as the processing operationsperformed by processing circuitry described in relation to FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is an illustrative embodiment of a display screen that may beused to provide recommendation for media assets contextually related toa requested media asset, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 5, control circuitry 304 causesdisplay screen 500 to display an exemplary page on which a user mayschedule Season 1, Episode 8 of The Blacklist (“General Ludd”) to berecorded when it airs on Channel 150 on November 8 (in 5 days). Controlcircuitry 304 may receive a user instruction, by way of user interfacecircuitry 310, to navigate the highlighted cursor to button 510,Schedule to Record, among other buttons to perform other functions. Forexample, if control circuitry 304 detects that the user navigates thehighlighted cursor to button 520, control circuitry 304 may cause areminder to be scheduled for the scheduled broadcast of this episode.

Control circuitry 304 may use window 530 on display screen 500 topresent a screenshot or a video related to the episode. In someembodiments, the video may be a trailer or a summary of plot points forthe episode. In some other embodiments, control circuitry 304 may causean advertisement to be displayed in window 530.

Control circuitry 304 may, in response to the user selecting button 510to schedule this episode for recording, generate for display dialog box540 on display screen 500 to provide recommendation options for theuser. In particular, control circuitry 304 may determine that the user'sviewing history may indicate that the user has watched Episodes 1-4 ofthe season. Control circuitry 304 may determine that when it detects auser selection of button 510, the user has requested to record Episode 8of the season. Control circuitry 304 may determine, based on thisinformation, that the user should watch Episodes 5, 6, and 7 prior toviewing Episode 8. It is understood that, while a “schedule to record”button 510 is used to illustrate the above features, other buttons andinteractive interfaces are capable of achieving similar effects and aretherefore well within the present disclosure. For example, controlcircuitry 304 may determine that a user has selected “set up reminder”button 520 for Episode 8, and may subsequently determine that the usershould be reminded to watch Episodes 5, 6, and 7 prior to viewingEpisode 8. As another example, control circuitry 304 may generate fordisplay a table of all available episodes in a grid format. Upondetermining that the user input circuitry has received a user request toselect Episode 8 from the grid, control circuitry 304 may determine thatEpisodes 5, 6, and 7 should be viewed prior to Episode 8.

Control circuitry 304 may determine the sources from which the Episodesare available, and create an optimal combination based on a set of userconstraints. For example, control circuitry 304 may determine that theuser has defined two user constraints—1) total budget $5.00; and 2) showmedia assets available for access between 1:00 pm and 5:00 pm. Controlcircuitry 304 may determine the user constraints by looking up alocally-implemented storage system, such as storage 308, or bycross-referencing data stored on a remote database, such as mediaguidance data source 418. Based on these user constraints, controlcircuitry 304 may find a subset of all media assets that arecontextually related to Episode 8, and provide options 544, 546, and 548for the user. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may determinethat the combination of options 544, 546, and 548, as shown in box 542,is an optimal combination based on the user constraints, the user'sviewing history, and available sources of media assets.

Control circuitry 304 may determine that the user has selected one ormore of options 544, 546, and 548 to access the corresponding mediaasset individually. Alternatively, control circuitry 304 may determinethat the user has selected box 542 to accept the recommended optimalcombination. Control circuitry 304 may determine that the user hasselected EXIT button 541 to discard the recommendation.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may determine that user inputcircuitry, such as user input interface 310, has received a request froma user to access a media asset. Control circuitry 304 may automaticallyarrange media assets that are contextually related to the requestedmedia asset for access prior to a first start time of the requestedmedia asset. User input interface 310 and control circuitry 304 may bepresent on any user equipment device 402, 404, or 406. Control circuitry304 may identify a first set of media assets that share a context withthe requested media asset by consulting a database implemented on alocal storage (e.g., from storage 308) or a remote server (e.g., mediacontent source 416) by way of communications network 414. In someembodiments, control circuitry 304 may generate recommendations fordisplay by outputting it to any or all of display 312 and speakers 314.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may identify the first set ofmedia assets, where each media asset of the first set was released priorto a release date of the requested media asset. In some embodiments, therequested media asset and the media assets in the first set of mediaassets may be sequential episodes, movie sequels, or other contextuallyrelated videos.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may compare each media assetof the first set against a viewing history of the user in order todetermine a subset of the first set of media assets that the user hasnot yet viewed. The definition of the term “viewing history,” whereverused in this disclosure, may include media assets that a user hasviewed, recorded, purchased, scheduled to view, along with anyadditional information associated with these activities. For example, auser's viewing history may indicate that the user has viewed an episodeof a television series two months ago, or that the user has purchased anon-demand movie but has not yet viewed it.

The term “release date” may be used to indicate the date that a mediaasset first becomes publicly accessible. The present disclosure uses therelease date, among other things, to determine relative contextual orderand relationship of media assets. In the example of episodes of a TVseries, the release dates correspond to the episode numbers, and hence,contextual progress. In movie sequels, the release dates suggest apreferred order of viewing the movies, such that The Godfather, releasedin 1972, should be viewed before The Godfather: Part II, released in1974.

It is understood that the release date is not the only mechanism withwhich control circuitry 304 can determine relative contextual order andrelationship of media assets. Other criteria, such as series number,sequel number, plot timeline, and other temporal information inherent tothe context of the media assets may be used. For example, Star WarsEpisode V: The Empire Strikes Back was released in 1980, whereas StarWars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith was released in 2005. Controlcircuitry 304 may determine that Star Wars Episode III has a plot thatis set in an earlier time than Star Wars Episode V. Consequently,control circuitry 304 may recommend Star Wars Episode III for viewingprior to viewing Star Wars Episode V despite the fact that the formerhas a later release date.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may access a user profile ofthe user to determine a user constraint. The term “user constraint,”wherever used in this disclosure, may refer to any criteria that controlcircuitry 304 follows in locating and selecting media assets from thesubset of the first set of media assets.

Control circuitry 304 may determine that user input interface 310 hasreceived instructions from the user to register a profile.Alternatively, control circuitry 304 may intelligently monitor theuser's activity with the user equipment (e.g., user television equipment402) and automatically determines that the user does not interact withthe user equipment during a 9:00 am-5:00 pm window on weekdays.

Consequently, control circuitry 304 may determine that the user profileshould include an entry that avoids recommending media assets scheduledduring 9:00 am-5:00 pm during weekdays. Control circuitry 304 maydetermine that the user constraint includes requirements on the videoresolution, cost of purchase, timing of broadcast, duration, theme,availability, mode of delivery, or speed of access of the media asset.

Control circuitry 304 may determine that the user constraintadditionally includes availability of the user and other generalpreferences of the user regarding the manner of accessing the mediaassets. For example, for a user who only accesses media assets between8:00 am and 5:00 pm (e.g., perhaps because the user works in a nightshift job and only has availability during the day), control circuitry304 may specify a user constraint that limits control circuitry 304 toonly look for media assets available during the hours of 8:00 am-5:00pm. As another example, control circuitry 304 may determine, from auser's profile, that the user wishes to limit the themes of the mediaassets being recommended to “non-violent” and “kids-friendly” only, andwould recommend media assets in these two categories accordingly.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may access the user profileto determine the user constraint by cross-referencing data from the userprofile with a user profile database, such as a database implementedusing a local storage (e.g., storage 308) or implemented on a remoteserver (e.g., media content source 416). Control circuitry 304 maysubsequently cross-reference a user constraint entry from the userprofile data to determine the user constraint. In some embodiments, theuser constraint may include multiple aspects.

Control circuitry 304 may generate a recommendation based on a firstaspect of the user constraint. In some embodiments, control circuitry304 may determine that the recommendation comprises a recommended mannerof accessing each media asset of the subset prior to the start time ofthe requested media asset. Control circuitry 304 may determine that therecommended manner is derived from both timing and user constraintconsiderations. For example, control circuitry 304 may determine thatsome media assets of the subset are available prior to the starting timeof the requested media asset and that these media assets would fulfillthe timing consideration. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 maydetermine that the starting time of the requested media asset is ascheduled broadcast time for the requested media asset. Controlcircuitry 304 may also determine that some media assets of the subsetfulfill one or more aspects of the user constraint as defined in theuser profile. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may onlyrecommend media assets that fulfill both the timing and the userconstraint considerations to the user for selection.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may intelligently evaluatethe viewing history of the user to determine whether to selectivelyfactor in certain information in the viewing history. Control circuitry304 may factor in information in the user's viewing history, forexample, if the information has been updated recently. On the otherhand, control circuitry 304 may not factor in information in the user'sviewing history if the information contradicts more recent data. As anexample, control circuitry 304 may determine that a user's viewinghistory indicates that the user has viewed Episode 5 of the TV seriesThe Blacklist over a year ago, and that the user has recently viewedEpisodes 1-4 within the past two days. When control circuitry 304determines that the user has scheduled Episode 8 of The Blacklist forrecording, control circuitry 304 may intelligently determine that arecommendation of an appropriate manner of accessing Episode 5 shouldstill be provided to the user despite the fact that Episode 5 appears inthe user's viewing history. Having the option to view Episode 5 againbefore viewing the subsequent Episode 8 allows the user to refresh plotpoints that may have been forgotten over the one-year period since thelast time the user viewed Episode 5.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may determine that at leastone media asset in the subset cannot be accessed prior to the startingtime of the requested media asset (i.e., a first starting time). Forexample, control circuitry 304 may determine that one of the mediaassets not yet viewed by the user is unavailable for access, from anysources, until after the first starting time of the requested media. Inthis situation, control circuitry 304 may automatically generate anotification, for display on display 312, indicating that one of themedia assets is unavailable prior to the first starting time of therequested media. Control circuitry 304 may subsequently search for analternative viewing opportunity for the requested media, such as anotherbroadcast of the requested media at a second starting time later thanthe first starting time. If control circuitry 304 is able to find thesecond starting time for the requested media asset given the userconstraints, control circuitry 304 may consult the database (e.g.,storage 308 or media content source 416) again to determine if thealternative viewing opportunity of the requested media, at the secondstarting time, allows for each media asset in the subset to be accessed.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may intelligently analyzeplot points of the subset of media assets to deduce media assets thatmay be of special interest to the user. For instance, for a user whoseviewing history has indicated a clear inclination to watch actionscenes, control circuitry 304 may choose one or more of the media assetsin the subset that contain plot points matching these preferences of theuser for prioritization. This prioritization scheme is especially usefulin situations where not all media assets of the subset can be accessedprior to the broadcast time of the requested media asset. Controlcircuitry 304 may preferentially access the higher-priority media assets(e.g., those with plot points indicating long action-scenes) prior tothe starting time of the requested media asset, and replace thelower-priority media assets with a video summary, such as a trailer, ashortened version, or a compilation of highlights for the lower-prioritymedia assets.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may receive input from auser, by way of user input interface 310, to register a user profile,which contains user constraints for accessing media assets. In additionto the user constraints as described above, control circuitry 304 maydetermine that the user profile additionally contains the user's viewinghistory and themes of interest. For example, control circuitry 304 maydetermine that a user has answered a questionnaire including movies andepisodes of a television series that the user has viewed or purchased(i.e., the viewing history). Based on the viewing history of the user,control circuitry 304 may also deduce themes, or genres, that the usertakes an interest in (i.e., themes of interest of the user). Controlcircuitry 304 may use the viewing history to determine the subset ofmedia assets contextually related to a requested media asset and has notyet been viewed by the user, thereby providing a recommendation for theuser. Control circuitry 304 may use the themes of interest of the userto further refine the recommendation when not all of the media assets inthe subset can be viewed prior to the starting time of the requestedmedia (given the user constraint) and the prioritization scheme needs tobe applied. As illustrated before, control circuitry 304 may give amedia asset matching the user's themes of interest a higher prioritythan a media asset that does not match the user's themes of interest.Control circuitry 304 may recommend the media asset with the higherpriority in its entirety, and replace the media asset with the lowerpriority with a trailer or another form of video summary.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may automatically permutepossible combinations of the manners of accessing the media assets togenerate an evaluation metric, such as a timing and cost metric, foreach possible combination. For example, in one possible combination,control circuitry 304 may order Episode 5 on television for $2.00, orderEpisode 6 on an online media store (e.g., Apple iTunes Store) for $1.00and schedule Episode 7 for recording in 10 days for $0.00. In anotherpossible combination, control circuitry 304 may order Episodes 5 and 6like in the first possible combination, and order Episode 7 on an onlinevideo streaming service (e.g., Amazon Instant Video) for $5.00. Controlcircuitry 304 may generate an evaluation metric, such as a timing andcost metric, for each possible combination, such that the first possiblecombination will be accessible in 10 days and costs $3.00, and thesecond possible combination will be accessible instantly and costs$8.00.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may compare the evaluationmetric for each possible combination against the user constraint todetermine an optimal combination. In the above example, controlcircuitry 304 may, based on the user constraint of a “$5.00” totalbudget, determine that only the first possible combination meets theuser constraint. Hence, control circuitry 304 may determine that thefirst possible combination is the optimal combination in this example.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may generate for display,using display 312, the optimal combination for recommendation.Alternatively, control circuitry 304 may announce the optimalcombination to the user using speakers 314, and any other suitableuser-interfacing devices.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of illustrative steps involved in arranging mediaassets that are contextually related to a requested media asset foraccess, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. It shouldbe noted that process 600 or any step thereof could be performed on, orprovided by, any of the devices shown in FIGS. 3-4. For example, process600 may be executed by control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3) as instructed bycontrol circuitry implemented on user equipment 402, 404, and/or 406(FIG. 4) in order to automatically arrange media assets that arecontextually related to a requested media asset prior to a starting timeof the requested media asset. In addition, one or more steps of process600 may be incorporated into or combined with one or more steps of anyother process or embodiment (such as process 700 of FIG. 7).

Process 600 begins at 610 and proceeds to 620, where control circuitry(e.g., control circuitry 304) may determine that user input circuitry(e.g., user input interface 310) has received a request from a user toaccess a first media asset. For example, control circuitry 304 maydetermine that user input interface 310 has received a request from auser to schedule Episode 8 of the TV series The Blacklist for recording(e.g., in the form of a selection of button 510 “Schedule to Record”).

At 630, control circuitry 304 may identify a first set of media assetsthat are released prior to a release date of the first media asset. Insome embodiments, control circuitry 304 may determine that the first setof media assets and the requested first media asset are contextuallyrelated media assets. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304identifies the first set of the media assets by consulting a database.For example, control circuitry 304 may identify Episodes 1-7 of TheBlacklist as being released prior to the release date of Episode 8.Control circuitry 304 may identify Episodes 1-7 by consulting adatabase, such as storage 308, and determining that they arecontextually related to Episode 8. Process 600 may then continue to 640.

At 640, control circuitry 304 may determine a subset of the first set ofthe media assets, where the subset contains media assets that the userhas not yet viewed. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may makethe determination by comparing the first set of media assets against aviewing history of the user. For example, control circuitry 304 maydetermine a subset of Episodes 1-7, such as Episodes 5, 6, and 7, wherethe subset (Episodes 5, 6, and 7) have not yet been viewed by the user.Control circuitry 304 may do so by comparing the first set of mediaassets, i.e., Episodes 1-7, against the viewing history of the user,i.e., Episodes 1-4, to make the determination. Process 600 thencontinues to 650.

At 650, control circuitry 304 may access a user profile to determine auser constraint associated with the user. Control circuitry 304 maydetermine that the user profile has previously entered by the user usinguser input circuitry or any other suitable means. In some embodiments,control circuitry 304 retrieves user constraint of the user profile tofilter the subset of media assets not previously viewed by the user. Forexample, control circuitry 304 may access a user profile of the user's,such as one stored on storage 308, to determine a user constraint (e.g.,total budget of “$5.00” and video resolution of “SD or above”)associated with the user. Control circuitry 304 may determine that theuser constraint associated with the user may have previously beenentered by the user using user input interface 310. Control circuitry304 may also retrieve the user constraint to filter Episodes 5, 6, and7. Process 600 then proceeds to 660.

At 660, control circuitry 304 may generate a recommendation comprising arecommended manner of accessing each media asset of the subset prior tothe starting time of the requested first media asset. In someembodiments, control circuitry 304 may determine the recommended mannerof accessing the media assets based on the user constraint as determinedat 650. At 670, control circuitry 304 generates for display therecommendation. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may generatefor display the recommendation on a display device. For example, controlcircuitry 304 may generate a recommendation for display on displaydevice 312, where the recommendation comprises a recommended manner ofaccessing each episode of Episodes 5, 6, and 7 prior to the startingtime (Nov. 11, 2013) of Episode 8. Process 600 ends at 680.

It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of FIG. 6 may be usedwith any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the steps anddescriptions described in relation to FIG. 6 may be done in alternativeorders or in parallel to further the purposes of this disclosure. Forexample, each of these steps may be performed in any order or inparallel or substantially simultaneously to reduce lag or increase thespeed of the system or method. Furthermore, it should be noted that anyof the devices or equipment discussed in relation to FIGS. 3-4 could beused to perform one or more of the steps in FIG. 6.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of illustrative steps involved in determiningmedia assets contextually related to a requested media asset and havenot yet been accessed and generating a recommendation, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure. It should be noted that process700 or any step thereof could be performed on, or provided by, any ofthe devices shown in FIGS. 3-4. For example, process 700 may be executedby control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3) as instructed by control circuitryimplemented on user equipment 402, 404, and/or 406 (FIG. 4) in order todetermine a context of a media asset. In addition, one or more steps ofprocess 700 may be incorporated into or combined with one or more stepsof any other process or embodiment (such as process 600 of FIG. 6).

Process 700 begins at 702 and proceeds to 704, where control circuitry(e.g., control circuitry 304) may determine that user input circuitry(e.g., user input interface 310) has received a request to access firstmedia asset from a user. As an example, a user may use remote controlassociated with user television equipment 402 to request access to anepisode (e.g., Episode 8) of a television series (e.g., The Blacklist).Process 700 may then continue to 706.

At 706, control circuitry 304 may find contextually related media assetsfor the requested first media asset by querying a database. In someembodiments, control circuitry 304 may determine that the contextuallyrelated media assets have a release date prior to the release date ofthe requested first media asset. For example, contextually related mediaassets to Episode 8 of The Blacklist may be Episodes 1-7, which arereleased prior to the release date of Episode 8 (Nov. 11, 2013). Aftercontrol circuitry 304 finds the contextually related media assets,process 700 may proceed to 708.

At 708, control circuitry 304 may find media assets in a user's viewinghistory. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may define theviewing history in the user's profile. The viewing history may containmedia assets that the user has viewed, recorded, or otherwise accessed,along with additional information associated with the media assets, suchas timestamps of the recording and date of viewing. It should be notedthat control circuitry 304 may carry out 706 and 708 in any conceivableorder (one before the other or concurrently) without going beyond thescope of the present disclosure. For example, control circuitry 304 mayfind Episodes 1-4 of The Blacklist to be in the user's viewing history,which correspond to the episodes that the user has viewed. Process 700may then proceeds to 710.

At 710, control circuitry 304 compares the set of contextually relatedmedia assets against the media assets in the user's viewing history todetermine if any contextually related media assets have not yet beenviewed by the user. If control circuitry 304 determines that everycontextually related media asset has been viewed by the user (appears inthe user's viewing history), process 700 may proceed to 722 to end. Onthe other hand, if control circuitry 304 determines that at least onecontextually related media asset does not appear in the viewing history,process 700 may proceed to 712. For example, control circuitry 304 maycompare Episodes 1-7 against the user's viewing history of Episodes 1-4,and determines that three episodes (Episodes 5, 6, and 7) do not appearin the viewing history. In this example, process 700 proceeds to 712.However, in another example, control circuitry 304 may determine thatall seven episodes (Episodes 1-7) appear in the user's viewinghistory—and process 700 will proceed to 722 to end.

At 712, control circuitry 304 determines a subset of media assets thatare not in the viewing history of the user. For example, controlcircuitry 304 may determine that Episodes 5, 6, and 7 are in the subsetof media assets that are not in the viewing history of the user. In someembodiments, even if each and every contextually related media assetappears in the user's viewing history, control circuitry 304 may stilldetermine that some media assets should become part of the subsetbecause they were last accessed by the user over a threshold period oftime ago. For instance, out of the contextually related and Episodes 1-5which have been viewed by the user, if control circuitry 304 determinesthat the user has accessed Episodes 1-4 in the last two days, but hasaccessed Episode 5 over two years ago, control circuitry 304 may stillinclude Episode 5 in the subset of media assets.

At 714, control circuitry 304 may access a user profile to determine auser constraint. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 determinesthat the user profile has previously been entered by the user via userinput interface 310. As discussed above in relation to FIG. 6, controlcircuitry 304 may determine that the user constraint defines a set ofcriteria that the media assets to be recommended should fulfill. Forexample, control circuitry 304 may access the user's profile todetermine the user constraint of a total budget of “$5.00” and a videoresolution of “SD or above.” Process 700 may then continue to 716.

At 716, control circuitry 304 filters the subset of media assets withthe user constraint to determine if any of the media assets meet theuser constraint requirement. If control circuitry 304 determines thatmedia assets of the subset meet the user constraint, at 720, controlcircuitry 304 recommends viewing order and viewing options to the userin a display screen, such as display screen 500 of FIG. 5. If, however,control circuitry 304 determines that at least one of the media assetsof the subset cannot meet the user constraint, control circuitry 304 mayrecommend alternative viewing opportunity for the requested first mediaasset at 718 (e.g., another broadcast of the requested first media assetstarting at a second time). For example, control circuitry 304 maydetermine that Episodes 5, 6, and 7 can all be found from the varioussources of media assets, and proceed to recommending the viewing orderand viewing options of Episodes 5, 6, and 7. Control circuitry 304 mayrecommend the viewing order of Episodes 5, 6, and 7 based on the episodenumber. In addition, control circuitry 304 may recommend the viewingoptions based on the user constraint, such that the total cost ofaccessing all three episodes is within the $5.00 budget and all threeepisodes have at least a standard definition resolution, as required inthe user constraint. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 mayrecommend additional subsets of media assets that are contextuallyrelated to the requested media asset, if the additional subsets alsofulfill the user constraints.

After control circuitry 304 recommends alternative viewing opportunityat 718, or recommends viewing order and viewing options for thedetermined subset of media assets (which also fulfill the userconstraint), process 700 may proceed to end at 722.

It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of FIG. 7 may be usedwith any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the steps anddescriptions described in relation to FIG. 7 may be done in alternativeorders or in parallel to further the purposes of this disclosure. Forexample, each of these steps may be performed in any order or inparallel or substantially simultaneously to reduce lag or increase thespeed of the system or method. Furthermore, it should be noted that anyof the devices or equipment discussed in relation to FIGS. 3-4 could beused to perform one or more of the steps in FIG. 7.

It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that methodsinvolved in the present invention may be embodied in a computer programproduct that includes a computer-usable and/or readable medium. Forexample, such a computer-usable medium may consist of a read-only memorydevice, such as a CD-ROM disk or conventional ROM devices, or a randomaccess memory, such as a hard drive device or a computer diskette,having a computer-readable program code stored thereon. It should alsobe understood that methods, techniques, and processes involved in thepresent invention may be executed using processing circuitry. Forinstance, determination of a conceptual boundary, e.g., by processingcircuitry 306 of FIG. 3. The processing circuitry, for instance, may bea general purpose processor, a customized integrated circuit (e.g., anASIC), or a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) within user equipment300, media content source 416, or media guidance data source 418. Forexample, the media stream as described herein may be stored in, andretrieved from, storage 308 of FIG. 3, or media guidance data source 418of FIG. 4. Furthermore, processing circuitry, or a computer program, mayupdate settings associated with a user, such as user profilepreferences, updating the information stored within storage 308 of FIG.3 or media guidance data source 418 of FIG. 4.

The processes discussed above are intended to be illustrative and notlimiting. One skilled in the art would appreciate that the steps of theprocesses discussed herein may be omitted, modified, combined, and/orrearranged, and any additional steps may be performed without departingfrom the scope of the invention. More generally, the above disclosure ismeant to be exemplary and not limiting. Only the claims that follow aremeant to set bounds as to what the present invention includes.Furthermore, it should be noted that the features and limitationsdescribed in any one embodiment may be applied to any other embodimentherein, and flowcharts or examples relating to one embodiment may becombined with any other embodiment in a suitable manner, done indifferent orders, or done in parallel. In addition, the systems andmethods described herein may be performed in real time. It should alsobe noted, the systems and/or methods described above may be applied to,or used in accordance with, other systems and/or methods.

1. A method for automatically arranging media assets that arecontextually related to a requested media asset for access prior to astart time of the requested media asset, the method comprising:receiving, with user input circuitry, a request from a user to access amedia asset; identifying, with control circuitry, by consulting adatabase, a first set of media assets, wherein each media asset of thefirst set of media assets was released prior to a release date of therequested media asset, and wherein each media asset of the first set ofmedia assets shares a context with the requested media asset;determining, by performing a comparison of each media asset of the firstset of media assets against a viewing history of the user, a subset ofmedia assets of the first set of media assets that the user has not yetviewed; accessing a user profile of the user to determine a userconstraint; generating a recommendation based on the user constraint,the recommendation comprising a recommended manner of accessing, priorto a first start time of the requested media asset, each media asset ofthe subset; and generating for display the recommendation.
 2. The methodof claim 1, further comprising: determining, based on the userconstraint, that at least one media asset of the subset cannot beaccessed prior to the first start time of the requested media asset; andautomatically generating for display a notification indicating a secondstart time of the requested media asset that is later than the firststart time, wherein the second start time is sufficient for each mediaasset of the subset to be completely consumed prior to the second starttime of the requested media asset.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein therequested media asset and the media assets of the first set of mediaassets comprise at least one of: sequential episodes, movie sequels, andcontextually related videos.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the firststart time is a scheduled broadcast time for the requested media asset.5. The method of claim 1, wherein the user constraint comprises at leastone of: video resolution, timing of broadcast, duration, theme,availability, mode of delivery, speed of access, user availability, anduser preference for media assets.
 6. The method of claim 1, whereingenerating the recommendation further comprises: determining a pluralityof manners of accessing the media assets of the subset; automaticallypermuting possible combinations of the manners of accessing the mediaassets to generate an evaluation metric for each possible combination;comparing the evaluation metric for with each possible combinationagainst the user constraint to determine an optimal combination; andgenerating for display a recommendation for the optimal combination. 7.The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving user input toregister the user profile, wherein the user profile includes userconstraints for accessing media assets.
 8. The method of claim 1,further comprising: determining, based on the user constraint, thatfewer than all media assets of the subset can be accessed prior to thefirst start time of the requested media asset; and generating fordisplay a video summary of at least one media asset of the subset, inplace of the at least one media asset, prior to the first start time ofthe requested media asset in order to accommodate the first start time.9. The method of claim 8, wherein the video summary comprises at leastone of: a trailer of the at least one media asset, a shortened versionof the at least one media asset, and a compilation of highlights fromthe at least one media asset.
 10. The method of claim 1, whereinaccessing the user profile of the user to determine the user constraintfurther comprises: accessing the database; cross-referencing data inputby a user with the database to identify the user profile of the user;and determining, based on the user profile, the user constraint.
 11. Asystem for automatically arranging media assets that are contextuallyrelated to a requested media asset for access prior to a start time ofthe requested media asset, the system comprising: storage circuitryconfigured to store information associated with media assets; user inputcircuitry configured to receive a request from a user to access a mediaasset; and control circuitry configured to: identify, using the storagecircuitry, a first set of media assets, wherein each media asset of thefirst set of media assets was released prior to a release date of therequested media asset, and wherein each media asset of the first set ofmedia assets shares a context with the requested media asset; determine,by performing a comparison of each media asset of the first set of mediaassets against a viewing history of the user, a subset of media assetsof the first set of media assets that the user has not yet viewed;access a user profile of the user to determine a user constraint;generate a recommendation based on the user constraint, therecommendation comprising a recommended manner of accessing, prior to afirst start time of the requested media asset, each media asset of thesubset; and generate for display the recommendation.
 12. The system ofclaim 11, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:determine, based on the user constraint, that at least one media assetof the subset cannot be accessed prior to the first start time of therequested media asset; and automatically generate for display anotification indicating a second start time of the requested media assetthat is later than the first start time, wherein the second start timeis sufficient for each media asset of the subset to be completelyconsumed prior to the second start time of the requested media asset.13. The system of claim 11, wherein the requested media asset and themedia assets of the first set of media assets comprise at least one of:sequential episodes, movie sequels, and contextually related videos. 14.The system of claim 11, wherein the first start time is a scheduledbroadcast time for the requested media asset.
 15. The system of claim11, wherein the user constraint comprises at least one of: videoresolution, timing of broadcast, duration, theme, availability, mode ofdelivery, speed of access, user availability, and user preference formedia assets.
 16. The system of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry,when determining the recommendation, is further configured to: determinea plurality of manners of accessing the media assets of the subset;automatically permute possible combinations of the manners of accessingthe media assets to generate an evaluation metric for each possiblecombination; compare the evaluation metric for with each possiblecombination against the user constraint to determine an optimalcombination; and generate for display a recommendation for the optimalcombination.
 17. The system of claim 11, wherein the user inputcircuitry is further configured to receive user input to register theuser profile, wherein the user profile includes user constraints foraccessing media assets.
 18. The system of claim 11, wherein the controlcircuitry is further configured to: determine, based on the userconstraint, that fewer than all media assets of the subset can beaccessed prior to the first start time of the requested media asset; andgenerate for display a video summary of at least one media asset of thesubset, in place of the at least one media asset, prior to the firststart time of the requested media asset in order to accommodate thefirst start time.
 19. The system of claim 18, wherein the video summarycomprises at least one of: a trailer of the at least one media asset, ashortened version of the at least one media asset, and a compilation ofhighlights from the at least one media asset.
 20. The system of claim11, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to: access adatabase; cross-reference data input by a user with the database toidentify the user profile of the user; and determine, based on the userprofile, the user constraint. 21-50. (canceled)